2010 2010_01 - Freeze of Jan. 2010

[floridasun]

i cant beleive the brazilian pepper, its so weird how smaller ones right under larger ones are brown, but the bigger ones are still green. theres a large coconut down the street that has a little green in the middle, i cant wait untill summer to see how many things surprise us and come back, in sebastian on riverfront drive theres a cocos that someone cut the top off and a new shoot came right out of the trunk. so if they can survive that than they will probably live through this.

Edited March 2, 2010 by floridasun

[Steve the palmreader]

The palms there sure took quite a blow . Looks like it was below 25 degrees to me . Did you get any snow or sleet? Cheers to spring.

[Jimbean]

The palms there sure took quite a blow . Looks like it was below 25 degrees to me . Did you get any snow or sleet? Cheers to spring.

Yes, there was persistent sleet for hours there (unprecedented). Here were the worse temperatures: 23, 26, 27, 29, 28, 29, and many more nights in the low 30's. Port St. John was a cold hole this year.

I also saw Senegal date palms with 20% damage in that area.

[floridasun]

my royal poinciana (though just a baby) died back to the ground but is resprouting. i notice alot of foxtails in parking lots dont look that bad, the concrete held alot of heat. and same here in palm bay.

Edited March 5, 2010 by floridasun

[floridasun]

i dont know if this belongs here but here it is anyway, http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/palms/msg031710094762.html?17 this is the saint augustine cocos after the 2010 freeze, its not my article but just thought you guys would like to see it.

[Zeeth]

Looks about the same as a lot of the coconuts where I'm at. The stem is green, that means the spear is likely green too. I'd say there's hope left. If it lives and fruits, I think it'd be cool to try them out here.

[floridasun]

thats exactly what i said, they look alot like ones here too. well not the islands of course. btw theres this thing kinda growing on my cidp they look like little barnicles with polen coming out of them, it already is killing one of them, i started them from seed and had them for a year and a half.

Edited March 7, 2010 by floridasun

[palmsOrl]

After this amazingly persistent winter (record cold in-fact), I have to-date lost only 3 palms. The first photo is what is left of my Cocos nucifera "Pacific Tall", brought back from Hawaii in 2005 as one of those bagged Cocos seedlings sold in gift shops. It was planted in too much shade and has never been a very strong grower, it has given up the ghost to fungus recently.

[palmsOrl]

Let's try this again...

[Zeeth]

Let's try this again...

There ya go

[palmsOrl]

Thank you Zeeth! I had a number of photos I was going to post, but wanted to get this first one posted correctly first. How exactly did you get the photo to appear like you did? Thanks a bunch.

-Michael

[Zeeth]

I've attached a screen shot of how I did it. You remove the text I circled in red and it should work

[palmsOrl]

Thank you for taking the time to show me that Zeeth Ok...I also lost my Adonidia to a raging fungal infection, that despite many systemic fungicide treatments, has turned the top of the trunk mushy and has killed it.

[palmsOrl]

The Carpie (far left) was defoliated, but survived 25 F unprotected and is showing new growth and a new inflorescence. The Areca triandra just to its right was brought to the brink of death too, but will survive I think. Meanwhile, the Arch. cunninghamiana didn't even blink at the cold, pretty amazing!

[palmsOrl]

Things look remarkably well considering we had a record cold winter (Dec. 21 - Mar. 21). What this has taught me is that absolute lows trump chill duration with regards to damage, at least here in Florida. We bottomed out at 25 F in my yard, two nights total in the mid 20s, about 7-8 other nights in the upper 20s, and quite a few between 30-32. If, however, we had experienced even one night in the low 20s (ala 1989), I would have outright lost most everything in my garden.

[palmsOrl]

My foxtail is also showing signs of recovery, and should have nearly a full crown by next fall. I forgot to mention I also lost a scrawny 1 ft. Phoenix dactylifera that has struggled for the 6 + years I've had it. The wet cold must have done it in, in its already weak state.

[bubba]

Your Palms look great considering the low temperatures. It is great to see folks pushing the limits. They all look like they will be completely back by July.

[palmsOrl]

Thanks Bubba, I think they will be mostly recovered by July too. If 19/20 of my palms can survive the coldest (on average) winter on record here on the edge of the Orlando urban heat island, I will continue and expand my zone pushing efforts!

-Michael

[palmsOrl]

Add to the death toll a small (10 inch) Thrinax radiata that I had planted in a fairly shady, protected spot in the garden. It was defoliated this winter but the spear was still green, so when I went to trim off the dead leaves, the bases were mushy and the leaves easily pulled away. Well...the spear pulled and you know the rest. One of the stems of my triple trunked Dypsis cabadae might be next, as it has developed a mushy area on the trunk just below the crownshaft. I treated it with a stiff dose of systemic fungicide today so we shall see. Also, I believe I am know the grower who has pushed an Areca triandra closest to freeze death, without it actually dying. Mine was of course defoliated this winter, and the spear is brown (the trunk and crownshaft still look healthy though, so I have held out hope). The poor palm has had to push like 4" of necrotic leaf spear out (in addition to 3 ft. already exposed during the freeze) before, finally, the spear is emerging fat and healthy green. I would say 25 F is this species' minimum survivable temperature.

-Michael

[palmsOrl]

Add to the list my 8 ft. Hyophorbe verscheffeltii. The trunk looks kinda withered, and the spear pulled today. I think I'm gonna put a triple trunk Ptychosperma bleeseri in its place, the fun continues.

-Michael

[AggiePalms]

My Caryota has thrown a spear! Many nights of 20-25 F, with at least a month of below freezing every night. Totally defoliated. But, it was 12 ft tall and is now 13, with the added spear. I thought it was seriously dead, but It's Alive! (With the help of R-13 pink fiberglass insulation until mid-April).

[Steve the palmreader]

Thats good news .How do the washies and canaries look in coastal Ga.?

[epicure3]

Keep an eye on it. Damage can show itself when the first couple of fronds open up.

[AggiePalms]

Thanks. I'll watch closesly.

My canariensis seemed to go through winter with no problems at all; no browning of fronds etc. The Washingtonias took a real hit here, however. Several large ones recently installed in the last year or two didn't make it (people with too much money, too little knowledge). The survivors lost most of their fronds. My 7ft trunk Washie lost all but two leaves. My 20 footer lost a lot of fronds, but still kept the most recent ones green. Both are looking much happier now with quite a bit of new growth. My fingers are crossed.

[jaybo]

In West Palm Beach, I experienced several nights in the 30s; 8 out of 9 nights in the 30s during one stretch. Coldest night was 33. I feel the cold damage experienced was more about how long the cold lasted than the absolute minimum temperature as my garden has experienced 30degF a few times in the past. Now that it is hot, sunny, with daily rainfall; rapid growth and death are being observed. Below are cold damage and survival that I did not expect.

Bactris gasipaes

In twenty years I have never seen any winter effects. This year everyone lost its spear. All but one have survived.

Dypsis fibrosa

Spear came out early January. No sign of survival until last week. There were a few times I almost cut these tree down. Now I see a few week fronds trying to push out.

Elaeis guineensis

These palms survived the 1989 freeze. The palm actually became a weed in my yard with seedlings everywhere. Many large specimens died this year. I have three with 15'+ trunk. One appears dead, no new growth is observed on the other two. But I can't get to the crown verify due to the height. A few seedlings that were allowed to grow to fruiting size did survive. Most died.

Latania loddigesii

Large palm, about 6' trunk. No damage observed until this week. New growth was observed during the past few months, then the center fronds died. After removing dead fronds, no new growth observed inside,

Pinanga coronata

Everyone had the spear pulled/fall out. All recovered with the exception of one or two stems.

Pritchardia waialealeana

Large palm, about 8' trunk has been planted in my garden for over 10 years. Totally defoliated. Pushed out 5 or 6 green fronds before the crown toppled over.

[sandstorm]

We have several royal palms in our yard and I think that this past winter killed over half of them. We are relatively new homeowner and they were here when we purchased the house. This past winter in Central FL (Brevard County) had several days in a row when the temp was not out of the 30's. About 8 or so of our trees now look like nubs. The center piece broke off and the top portion of what is left is mushy (like it is rotten inside). Could we cut the tree down to where it is solid and would it grow back from that or are they a total loss?

Thanks for any information -

Sandy

[_Rich]

Sandy,

Welcome to PalmTalk. Unfortunately, the royals sound as though they are gonners. The solid (trunk) that is grayish in color is below what used to be a greenish crown shaft. On most any crownshafted palm, when this is gone, the growth bud that produces new fronds is dead and the tree should be removed. Sorry for your losses.

Rich

[sandstorm]

Thanks Rich -

That's what we kind of thought. We were just hoping we were wrong.

[Jimbean]

Thanks Rich -

That's what we kind of thought. We were just hoping we were wrong.

Yeah, it was a bad one last winter. I have one up in Port St. John that is not doing so well. I really, really, really hope we have a mild winter next season, because if we don't, we are going to see much worse loses this time around due to the fact that these palms are going to need a couple years to recover.

[Moose]

It may be too late. Treatments with a fungicide and anti-bacterial drenches in the crown could of helped. Difficult with the stature of Royal Palms (Roystonia regia). Is there any thing happening at all. Royals are gross feeders and love heavy nitrogen, especially during the warm weather. You may want to drench the root zone with some water soluble heavy nitrogen fertilizer. If the meristem is still alive, this may help it to push some spear leaves. If it survives, you will probably have a constriction in the trunk.

Ron.

[Jimbean]

My royal has only pushed one and a half fronds all year. I am guessing that means it is dead, but what do you folks think?

[Tala]

This event an odd one for duration alone, overall lows perfectly within normal range. The two consecutive freezes happened for only 2nd time in my 16 yrs of growing here; and immediately following that was three consecutive freezes, that a new one; one night of 12 hrs at/below 32f following a daytime high of 36f also a record for here. The stats:

12th - 29f, radiational - heavy frost, 2 hrs

11th - 28f, advective - light frost, 9 hrs

10th - 29f, advective - no frost, 12 hrs

8th - 30f, radiational - light frost, - 3 hrs

7th - 31f, advective - no frost, - 3 hrs

NO DAMAGE

Acrocomia totai, Allagoptera arenaria, Archontophoenix cunninghamiana (2), Archontophoenix maxima

Arenga engleri, Arenga micrantha, Bismarckia nobilis (2), Brahea brandegeei, Butia capitata

Butyagrus hybrid, Chamaedora tepejilote, Chamaedorea metallica, Chamaedorea microspadix (2)

Chamaedorea plumosa, Chuniophoenix hainanensis, Chuniophoenix nana, Coccothrinax argentata (Fl.)

Coccothrinax borhidiana, Coccothrinax brevicrinis, Coccothrinax crinita, Coccothrinax inaguensis

Coccothrinax miraguama var. roseocarpa, Coccothrinax spissa, Copernicia alba, Copernicia baileyana

Copernicia gigas, Copernicia hospita, Copernicia macroglossa (2), Cryosophila warscewiczii

Dypsis decipiens (2), Howea forsteriana, Kerriodoxa elegans (2), Leucothrinax morrisii (2)

Livistona australis, Livistona decora, Livistona jenkinsiana, Livistona mariae

Livistona nitida, Livistona rigida, Lytocaryum weddellianum, Nannorrhops ritchiana

Phoenix canariensis, Phoenix loureirii, Phoenix reclinata, Phoenix roebelenii

Phoenix rupicola, Phoenix sylvestris, Pseudophoenix sargentii (Fl.) (2)

Rhapidophyllum hystrix, Rhapis excelsa Tenzan, Rhapis humilis, Sabal causiarum

Sabal domingensis, Sabal minor var. Louisiana, Sabal minor var. Tamaulipas, Sabal uresana

Sabal yapa, Serenoa repens (white), Syagrus romanzoffiana (2), Thrinax excelsa

Trachycarpus latisectus, Wallichia oblongifolia (densiflora), Washingtonia 'filibusta' hybrid

Burretiokentia hapala, Hyphaene compressa, Brahea armata 15g, Tahina spectabilis 1g, Bactrisa setosa 7g (protected)

Borassus FTG hybrid 7g (protected), Calyptronoma rivalis 3g (protected), Jubaeopsis caffra 5g (protected)

Pritchardia affinis 1g (protected), Syagrus botryophora 3g (protected), Syagrus ruschiana 3g (protected)

Bambusa mutabilis, Bambusa oldhamii

Bowenia serrulata, Ceratozamia hildae, Ceratozamia kuesteriana, Dioon edule, Dioon spinulosum

Encephalartos ferox, Macrozamia communis, Zamia inermis, Zamia vasquezii

MINOR DAMAGE (- 10%)

Allagoptera caudescens, Areca triandra, Arenga caudata, Attalea speciosa

Caryota maxima, Coccothrinax argentata hybrid unk., Coccothrinax scoparia

Copernicia yarey, Cryosophila stauracantha, Licuala spinosa

Livistona victoriae, Sabal mauritiiformis, Archontophoenix myolensis

Archontophoenix purpurea, Archontophoenix tuckeri, Copernicia cowellii

Licuala ramsayi, Livistona inermis

Bambusa 'Alphonse Karr' (sp.)?

Pandanus utilis (dropped leaves only)

MODERATE DAMAGE (-50%)

Acrocomia crispa, Aiphanes horrida, Arenga tremula, Attalea butyracea

Caryota obtusa, Dypsis mahajanga, Hyophorbe verschaffeltia, Livistona rotundifolia X saribus

Roystonea borinqueana, Syagrus amara, Wodyetia bifurcata, Chambeyronia macrocarpa

Kentiopsis oliviformis, Livistona carinensis, Reinhardtia latisectus, Satakentia liukiuensis

Cycas thouarsii

Bambusa lako

MAJOR DAMAGE (+50%)

Arenga pinnata, Astrocaryum mexicanum, Beccariophoenix 'windows', Caryota mitis

Corypha umbraculifera (3g), Dypsis ankaizinensis, Dypsis decaryi, Elaeis guineensis

Hyophorbe spindle X bottle, Hyphaene coriacea, Licuala grandis, Pinanga kuhlii

Ptychosperma burretianum, Ptychosperma macarthurii, Ravenea glauca, Ravenea rivularis

Syagrus coronata, Syagrus costae hybrid, Thrinax parviflora, Wallichia disticha

Zombia antillarum

Cycas angulata

Bambusa 'Wamin'

DEFOLIATED

Bismarckia nobilis (not reproductive), Corypha utan

Thrinax radiata, Veitchia winin

UPDATE (8 MONTHS LATER)

off the above lists every palm listed with no to moderate damage survived.

off the major damage list a 6 ft Ptychosperma burretianum died as did a small Licuala grandis. Pinanga kuhlii lost all large stems from 6 ft on down, but did regrow from roots.

off the defoliated list both Veitchia winin (10 ft) and Thrinax radiata (6 ft) died.

Several oddities: a large 15 y/o mature Caryota mitis began flowering on every single stem incl. the newest ones approx. 1 yr aged. A mature near 20 y/o Washingtonia 'filibusta' died due to crown rot, this no doubt a result of the prolonged wet cold even tho' low temps stayed in high 20's. And a mature Hyphaene coriacea appears to have lost its two largest stems, again due to excess wet cold. Small stems have pushed out leaves so the palm itself is not dead.

[TropicalDude]

Yesturday drove past the nursery on Judge Rd. (north of KMCO aiport) and saw a lot of foxtails or royals (couldn't real tell) with dark chocolate brown fronds. They seemed to be around 15' tall with good sized trunks.

A few days after last month's freeze (the really annoying one w/ 25mph gusts) I passed by Sea World and saw Foxtails in the open w/ parts of fronds already dark brown. Also a Cocos barely hanging on with very short trimmed/stunted? leaves coming with some green. Hard to tell it was a cocos, the trunk 10-15' is mostly all that's left. I doubt it survives this winter, especially if they keep cutting trimming the damage prematurely. The large Royals nearby had signs of damage, but some closer to the pond by the Cocos looked completely green.

Those Sea World Foxtails in the open now probably look really bad after the last freeze with frost. Ouch!

[TropicalDude]

The large Malayan Coconut at Leu Gardens with about 10' of trunk is done, despite having survived last winter. This in an area with some canopy protection and with a lake not far away. They planted a new one next to it that already looks damaged. One of the tall varieties might last longer than another Malayan..

[MOlivera]

I bought a couple of Dave's Acrocomia Totai last spring. This winter i had two nights of 20F and 21F. Plants were potted up from 1 gallon to 5 gallon. I just covered them with sheets. No trees overhead for protection. The neighbors Queen palms that have approx. 15 ft. of clear trunk were totally defoliated. The Acrocomia's did not even have tip burn and had no pulled spears! There were several other nights that were below freezing, i believe i covered them up those nights also. Very impressed with their cold tolerance.

[palmsOrl]

I might have to try one of those Acrocomias, if I can find a large enough space for a mature one. My winter fatalities as of March 1 are as follows:

1 foot Veitchia winin(finally gave up after this winter)

8 foot Prestoea acuminata (badly damaged last winter, was pencil-pointing and finally died last month)

4 foot Guassia maya (may survive, can't tell yet)

12-14 foot Areca triandra (survived for a number of years, this winter took it out)

4 foot Ptychosperma microcarpum (just planted this last year, was that smart?)

5 foot Foxy Lady (another planted last year, trunk solid but no green foliage, probably will pull through, not impressed with cold hardiness)

9 foot Dypsis cabadae (small suckers at base look dead, main large trunk has several oozing, necrotic lesions, not too hopeful)

8" Sabal etonia (in a pot, may have died from drying out too much, not sure)

[naraj]

Hey guys, I realize I'm way late on this question, but here goes:

I'm in Palm Beach too, and I'm wondering if maybe the reason the 'protected' palms/plants were more damaged was because during a freak cold snap, protected palms do better because their absolute low temp doesn't get quite as low (also, no frost), but in a prolonged cold spell, they don't get as much warmth from the sun, which keeps them cooler than the unprotected palms during a prolonged cool spell.

What do you guys think?

I'm trying to avoid having a repeat of sur4z's scenario, because I'm doing exactly what he did, LOL.

[Moose]

On ‎9‎/‎17‎/‎2010‎ ‎10‎:‎32‎:‎54‎, Jimbean said:

My royal has only pushed one and a half fronds all year. I am guessing that means it is dead, but what do you folks think?

[Jimbean]

8 hours ago, Moose said:

That was many years ago, but it died.

[Moose]

2 hours ago, Jimbean said:

That was many years ago, but it died.